14 Jul 2014

The African Union Commission and the European Union each
released their respective priorities for the post-2015 development agendas in
May 2014, shortly after the circulation of a “zero draft” that would serve as a
potential launching point for negotiating a set of Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs).

The Sustainable Development Goals would replace the current
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) when they expire next year, and are part of
a broader initiative aimed at establishing a “post-2015 development agenda.”

African position
highlights consensus

The release of the Common
African Position (CAP) came during a 3 June meeting of
the African Union Commission, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The document is a
direct result of the work undertaken by a High Level Committee (HLC) set up by
the African Union a year ago, and is meant to encapsulate the continent’s key
priorities as it participates in the post-2015 negotiations.

The HLC process involved several consultative and technical
meetings, in which officials reviewed a list of priorities developed by
institutions across the continent with the goal of reaching consensus on a
proper post-MDG framework.

The resulting CAP “reflects the aspirations of the African
people,” said Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who chaired the High
Level Committee.

Carlos Lopes, who serves as the Economic Commission for
Africa’s (ECA) Executive Secretary, similarly hailed the CAP as “a concrete
step towards mainstream[ing] all the key issues at the global level but with an
African perspective addressing all the Sustainable Development Goals.”

“We therefore commit ourselves to speak with one voice and
to act in unity to ensure that Africa’s voice is heard and is fully integrated
into the global development agenda,” the consensus document says.

“The overarching goals of CAP are to eradicate poverty and
ensure human development, which are anchored in the six pillars,” said Anthony
Maruping, Commissioner of Economic Affairs of the African Union Commission, who
presented the document.

African countries have pledged to strengthen their
productive capacities in order to foster industrialisation. They also aim to
promote the processing of primary commodities by developing value chains across
sectors, together with beneficiation policies, especially in the extractive
sectors of their economies. Beneficiation refers to the treatment of raw
materials, such as mineral ore, to improve their properties for further
processing.

The CAP also calls for the modernisation of the agricultural
sector, together with the enhancement of agricultural productivity, in order to
ensure food self-sufficiency. Furthermore, the document emphasises the role of
services and infrastructure development in facilitating economic
transformation.

The current Millennium Development Goals have come under
criticism by some experts, who claim that these placed a disproportionate focus
on the social sector and took too much of a quantitative – as opposed to
qualitative – approach to development.

This new common position therefore centres on value addition
and proper use of resources, rather than the socially-oriented planning of past
development models, said Ibrahim Mayaki, head of the New Partnership for
Africa’s Development (NEPAD), in comments reported by Sierra Express Media.

NEPAD serves as the development arm of the African Union.

In the next phase of its work, the HLC will begin
negotiations with other regions of the world as well as the continent’s
development partners to ensure Africa's vision is included in the post-2015
global development agenda.

EU bets on
sustainable development to tackle poverty

Separate to the CAP launch, the European Commission issued
its own proposal last
week outlining its development aspirations for the new SDGs.

According to the Brussels document, eradicating poverty and
achieving sustainable development are fundamentally interrelated. The
communication features “poverty”, “inequality,” and “food security” as the
first three priority areas in a total of 17, and indicates the Commission’s
plan to cluster them based on interlinkages.

The communication also highlights the role of trade
liberalisation for poverty eradication and sustainable development.

The European Commission also refers to the value of
universality, while acknowledging the need to take “into account different
national contexts capacities and levels of development.” Such differentiated
treatment, it said, requires a consideration of each country’s respective
starting points and capacities, and the need to ensure achievability,
ownership, and measurability.

Brussels also says that the post-2015 framework should
ensure a “rights-based approach” to promote sustainable development by ensuring
“justice, equality and equity, good governance, democracy and the rule of law,
peaceful societies and freedom from violence.”

Finally, the communication stresses the EU’s commitment to a
strengthened global partnership, highlighting the 28-nation bloc’s role as one
of “the driving forces behind mobilising action internally and worldwide.”

The Commission document will next be discussed by the
Council of Ministers and the European Parliament. The result of these
discussions, EU officials say, will serve to guide the bloc’s position in the
UN negotiations.

September 2015 target
date

The creation of the SDGs is a central part of the framing of
the post-2015 development agenda, which will be negotiated by UN member states
until September 2015.

Some experts have suggested that the value of the
sustainable development agenda lies in its ability to identify connections
between many issues. However, in terms of practical implementation, this is
proving easier in theory than in practice.

The Open Working Group tasked with formulating these new SDGs
will be holding their next formal gathering from 16-20 June, in what is
expected to be a key meeting in advancing this process. The working group is
expected to publish its conclusions next month, ahead of the UN
Secretary-General’s report later this year. (See Biores,
2 June 2014)